The Root of the Problem
While scrolling through various social media sites searching for answers, explanations and any plausible reason for what has been happening in our world over these past few weeks, I came across an excerpt from the book titled Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur which read “the idea that we are all so capable of love but still choose to be toxic” and think to myself can it be that simple? If we as human beings have the capability to love, then why choose to create a world filled with both hatred and violence? Why do innocent lives continue to be taken daily? Why are we forced to live in fear, fear of those who take an oath to serve and protect? These are the questions desperately yearning to be answered. All lives matter, those racially oppressed, profiled, continuously discriminated, gay, lesbian, bisexual, Chinese, European, African American, Caucasian, blue yellow, green, purple, no matter the color of one’s skin or how a person chooses to identify, all lives should be valued equally. Dr. Martin Luther King once said “hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that” and “the time is always right to do what is right”. When are we all going to value each other as equals, stand together in love not hate as a united front and fight for what is right? Take a minute, close your eyes stop and think. We as human beings are all made in the same image and likeliness, we all bleed red. In this time of anguish and despair we should be helping each other, not tearing each other down because all lives matter.
The black lives matter movement advocates for dignity, justice and respect and as a young African American women I want just that, doesn’t everyone? We live in such an (excuse my language) f***** up world things just seem to be getting worse with every passing news headline. Why not rally for all lives matter, in my opinion it may make things a bit easier. Did you watch the BET awards this year? If not you definitely missed out a great acceptance speech given by Jesse Williams, recipient of the humanitarian award, African American rights activist, and also the cute doctor from Grey’s Anatomy. During his speech, Williams, addressed not only black lives but also freedom and equal rights while stating;
We've been floating this country on credit for centuries, and we're done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind, while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil — black gold. Ghettoizing and demeaning our creations then stealing them, gentrifying our genius and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit.
This statement and this topic can be seen as controversial which makes discussing this that much more difficult. Do I agree with equal rights for blacks? Yes one hundred percent and the reason I added a small piece of Jesse Williams’ speech is because what he is saying is powerful, it has meaning. What I would like to see and what I hope for is an “all lives matter movement” where everyone can stand together regardless of race and background. I could go on for hours but as I dig, this topic of race and racial oppression becomes much more difficult for me to grasp and understand, it is much deeper and we’ve only merely scratched the surface. I want to leave off with this quote not just to keep you thinking but because I believe it could be the root of the problem. “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that’s wrong with the world” – Dr. Paul Farmer.
